Thumbelina
Hans Christian Andersen's Thumbelina or simply known as Thumbelina is 1994 fantasy film directed by Don Bluth. It was distributed by Warner Bros. Family Entertainment for theatrical release, and later by Warner Home Video in the 90's and finally by 20th Century FOX Home Entertainment in the 00's. Synopsis A lonely woman (Barbara Cook) longs for a child of her very own. One day, a good witch gives her a barley corn to plant, and the next day the flower blooms, revealing a little girl "no bigger than her thumb." (Jodi Benson) The woman names her Thumbelina. Thumbelina spends time with her mother's farm animals, but is worried that there is no one around of her own size ("Thumbelina"). One night, her mother tells her a story about fairies. After being put to bed, Thumbelina imagines that someday she will be able to find someone to love ("Soon"). As she is humming to herself, Prince Cornelius of the Fairies (Gary Imhoff) flies by her windowsill and is enchanted by her. The two take a ride on Cornelius' bumblebee, during which they fall in love ("Let Me Be Your Wings"). During this ride, a toad named Grundel (Joe Lynch) sees Thumbelina and declares to his mother Mrs. Toad (Charo) that he loves her. Cornelius returns Thumbelina to her windowsill and promises to come back for her the next day. After he leaves, Thumbelina goes to sleep in her walnut bed, and is kidnapped by Mrs. Toad. When Thumbelina awakes the next morning, she is on a lily-pad far away from home. Mrs. Toad declares that Thumbelina will join their family singing troupe "Singers de Espana" (counting Grundel's brothers, Mozo and Gringo) and that Thumbelina will also marry Grundel ("On the Road"). The group leaves her alone on the lily-pad to fetch the priest, despite her protests. Thumbelina's cries for help are heard by Jacquimo (Gino Conforti), who helps her free of the lily-pad and encourages her to follow her heart and find her way home to her mother ("Follow Your Heart"). Jacquimo himself promises to find Cornelius, who lives in the Vale of the Fairies. Meanwhile, Cornelius has learned of Thumbelina's kidnapping and goes searching for her. Thumbelina almost reaches home, but she is stopped by Berkeley Beetle (Gilbert Gottfried) who wants her to join his act at the Beetle Ball. Thumbelina is forced to perform at the Beetle Ball, but at the end is kicked out for being "too ugly" (as those beetles only like the appearances of beetles). ("You're Beautiful, Baby") Grundel, who is also searching for Thumbelina, tracks down Beetle and forces him (by taking his wings) to help find Thumbelina. Searching for the Vale of the Fairies, Jacquimo seeks help from a fleeing rabbit and its pursuer, a fox. The fox angrily shoves him out of the way and a strong gust of wind blows the swallow into a tree, driving a thorn through his wing. When the cold winter frost arrives, he becomes too weak to fly to the point that he loses consciousness and falls to the ground. The falling snow also causes Cornelius to fall from his bumblebee into a pond, where he is frozen in ice. Beetle finds Cornelius and cuts out a block of ice in which the Fairy Prince is trapped to bring to Grundel. Elsewhere, Thumbelina's mother can only wait at home and hope for the best ("Soon (Reprise)"). With both Cornelius and Jacquimo incapacitated, Thumbelina takes shelter from the winter frost in a shoe. She is rescued by Ms. Fieldmouse (Carol Channing) who tells her that Cornelius is dead. She convinces a heartbroken Thumbelina to join her to visit Mr. Mole (John Hurt), where Thumbelina is told to sing for him. They take a walk in Mr. Mole's extensive tunnels, where Thumbelina discovers the unconscious Jacquimo. Mr. Mole tells Ms. Fieldmouse that he would like to marry Thumbelina, and she agrees to convince Thumbelina that it would be for the best ("Marry the Mole"). Grundel learns that Thumbelina is to marry Mr. Mole and abandons the frozen Cornelius with Beetle, allowing three young jitterbug children that Thumbelina befriended to light a fire to melt the ice that has trapped Cornelius. Thumbelina sneaks out of Ms. Fieldmouse's home to visit Jacquimo. He wakes, and Thumbelina removes the thorn from his wing. Before she can explain that Cornelius is "dead", Jacquimo flies off, still determined to find the Vale of the Fairies. When Thumbelina is prompted by the minister at the wedding ceremony, she responds that she cannot marry Mr. Mole, eventually leading into a chase by Beetle, Grundel and the others. However, Cornelius and the jitterbug children arrive to stop them and Cornelius engages Grundel. Despite his efforts in stalling the crowd long enough to secure Thumbelina's escape, the battle eventually culminates in both he and Grundel falling into a bottomless pit. Thumbelina manages to scare her pursuers by causing a mountain of jewelry to slide toward them, and she escapes to the surface, where she is found by Jacquimo, who says that he has found the Vale of the Fairies. They fly there, and after Thumbelina sings ("Let Me Be Your Wings (Reprise)"), the ice thaws and Cornelius, who survived the fall and is still with the jitterbug children, appears to be reunited with his love. Cornelius proposes, Thumbelina accepts, the pair kiss and wings sprout from Thumbelina's back. The wedding is celebrated with Thumbelina's mother, Jacquimo, the jitterbug children, and Cornelius' family in attendance. Screenshots during the credits reveal that Beetle resumed his normal, popstar life and got his wings back; Grundel survived the fall with a broken leg and married a female toad; Mr. Mole married Ms. Fieldmouse; and the rabbit and fox Jacquimo tried to ask for help ultimately found friendship. Characters Rescue Rangers *Tress MacNeille as Chip is the leader of the Rescue Rangers. Loosely modeled after Indiana Jones, Chip wears a fedora and a bomber jacket and frequently uses rope to lasso or swing to other spots. Chip is serious and has a strong sense of responsibility, to the point that he is sometimes accused of not knowing how to have fun. He can be domineering and often ends up in squabbles with Dale over his more laid back manner. At times, though, he also lets himself go and joins Dale in some frivolity. He and Dale have a crush on Gadget. *Corey Burton as Dale is the co-founder of the Rescue Rangers. He wears a red and yellow Hawaiian shirt reminiscent of Thomas Magnum in Magnum, P.I. Though dedicated to the job, he is a fun-loving, mischievous prankster who is sometimes irresponsible and forgets to think before he acts. He spends his free time reading comic books and playing video games. A known candy addict, Dale has "chocolate attacks" similar to Monterey Jack's cheese attacks (ironically, Monty finds it disgusting that Dale can't control himself over candy).He frequently finds himself being knocked on the head by Chip when he says or does something foolish. *Jim Cummings as Monterey Jack, or "Monty" to his friends, is an adventure-loving Australian mouse who spent years traveling the world before a chance meeting with Chip and Dale during their first case. After Fat Cat destroyed his home, Monty and his sidekick Zipper decided to join the group in their detective work. Stronger and larger than the others, Monty can be quick to anger if he, or his friends, has been offended. This trait sometimes leaves him ready to do battle with a much larger opponent, and the others having to calm him down. Monty has an overpowering addiction to cheese, and the sight or smell of cheese causes him to be almost hypnotically drawn to it. Monty loves to tell stories of his travels, even if the others often stop his reminiscing, and he often uses colorful "pseudo-australianisms" while talking, such as "Strike me starkers." Monterey Jack is the only Rescue Ranger known to have two living parents, Cheddarhead Charlie and Camembert Kate, who are also travelers. Also, names of his entire family, including his own, have references to various types of cheese. Monty is most frequently found in the company of either Zipper or Dale, whose fun-loving nature matches his own. He also seems to consider Gadget to be something of a surrogate daughter, most likely due to his long friendship with her late father. Due to his traveling experience, Monty often handles the traveling arrangements for the group *Tress MacNeille as Gadget Hackwrench is a young female mouse and the team's pilot, mechanic and inventor. The daughter of deceased inventor and aviator Geegaw Hackwrench, who was a good friend of Monterey Jack. She first met Chip and Dale when Monty brought them to Geegaw's in search of an airplane. At loose-ends since her father's death and eager to help, she joins the team. Known to say "Golly", whenever she's surprised by something. Gadget moves, thinks, and talks quickly, sometimes leaving the others looking dazed and confused. In addition to building and maintaining the Ranger Plane, Gadget is the one responsible for the various technological items used by the team and is regularly inventing new vehicles and tools for the team's use. She has the uncanny ability to take discarded and unrelated items, and invent nearly anything with them, which she attributes to the fact that she has a "mind-bashingly high IQ" and is easily bored. Unfortunately, her creations don't always work the way she intends and have sometimes failed at just the wrong moment to cause the team trouble. Both Chip and Dale are attracted to Gadget, and often compete for her attention, but she doesn't seem to notice in many cases. However there are hints that she does like Chip. In one of the episodes Chip reveals that she has given him a photograph of herself *Corey Burton as Zipper is a tiny bluish-green housefly and a long time friend and sidekick of Monterey Jack. With his tiny size and flying abilities, Zipper often handles little jobs that the rest of the Rescue Rangers cannot. He speaks in unintelligible buzzes that only Monty and other insects are able to understand, although in later episodes, he talks more clearly. Despite his tiny size, Zipper occasionally has impressive displays of strength which are matched only by his unwavering loyalty to his friends. Characters of the film *Jodi Benson as Thumbelina - The main protagonist of the film. *Gary Imhoff as Prince Cornelius - The Prince of the Fairies and Thumbelina's love. He is the deuteragonist. *Gino Conforti as Jacquimo - A wise, caring and easygoing swallow who speaks with a French accent. He is both the narrator and the tritagonist. *Barbara Cook as Mother - The widow whom mothers Thumbelina since her birth from a flower. *Will Ryan as Hero / Reverend Rat. Hero is the widow's guard dog, who is a friend to her and Thumbelina. The Reverend Rat tried to marry Mr. Mole to Thumbelina. *Gilbert Gottfried/Randy Crenshaw (singing) as Berkeley Beetle - A pop star beetle who owns his own "beetle band" and a so-called "connoisseur of sweet nectars, a fancier of fine threads and judge of beautiful women." He is the secondary antagonist of the film. *June Foray as Queen Tabitha - Cornelius's mother and Queen of the Fairies *Kenneth Mars as King Colbert - Cornelius's father and King of the Fairies *Joe Lynch as Grundel Toad - The oldest son of Mrs. Toad and the main antagonist of the film. When he first sees Thumbelina flying with Cornelius, he instantly falls in love with her and becomes hell-bent on marrying her. *Charo as Mrs. Toad - A sexy, famous and gorgeous Spanish singer and mother to her three sons Mozo, Gringo and Grundel. *Carol Channing as Ms. Fieldmouse - A kind, beautiful, sexy and caring, but rather greedy field mouse who takes Thumbelina in from the cold and persuades her to marry Mr. Mole. *John Hurt as Mr. Mole - A fabulously wealthy but self-involved and cynical rodent. *Danny Mann as Mozo Toad - The youngest son of Mrs. Toad *Loren Lester as Gringo Toad - The middle child of Mrs. Toad *Michael Nunes as Li'l Bee, Tawny Sunshine Glover - Gnatty, and Kendall Cunningham - Baby Bug - Three young jitterbugs, all of whom Thumbelina befriends. *Pat Musick as Mrs. Rabbit *Neil Ross as Mr. Fox/Mr. Bear *Tony Jay as Cow Musical Numbers *"Rescue Rangers Theme" (Opening) - Mark Mueller *"Follow Your Heart" (Intro) - Jacquimo *"Thumbelina" - Thumbelina, Farm Animals *"Soon" - Thumbelina *"Let Me Be Your Wings" - Prince Cornelius, Thumbelina *"On the Road" - Mrs. Toad, Thumbelina, Singers de Espana (Los Sapos Guapos) *"Follow Your Heart" - Jacquimo, Jitterbugs, Birds *"Yer Beautiful, Baby" - Berkeley Beetle, Beetle Chorus *"Soon (Reprise)" - Mother *"Let Me Be Your Wings (Sun Reprise)" - Thumbelina *"Marry the Mole" - Ms. Fieldmouse *"Let Me Be Your Wings" (Reprise) - Thumbelina, Jacquimo, Prince Cornelius *"Follow Your Heart" (Finale) - Chorus Trivia *This is the second time in which Jodi Benson, Kenneth Mars and Will Ryan appeared in a film adaption of a fairy tale by Hans Christian Anderson, the first being in The Little Mermaid, in which these respective actors voiced Ariel, King Triton and the seahorse, respectively. *This is, by far, the first animated film to be nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award and the first & only animated film to win a Golden Raspberry Award for worst in film; it won it for the song "Marry the Mole" in the category "Worst Original Song." *During its theatrical release, it was released with the Animaniacs short "I'm Mad", which was later integrated into the TV series. *Despite the film being a financial failure it has developed a cult following, and is sometimes called one of Don Bluth's better 90 films. *This is the first Don Bluth film to be shot in widescreen using the aspect ratio 1.78:1, it is cropped to 1.85:1 on the first DVD from Warner Bros. and the 20th Century FOX Blu-Ray release. Category:Don Bluth films Category:Movies Category:Non-Disney films Category:Warner Bros. animated films